The present invention relates to a wheeled support structure for supporting means for carrying and containing a baby, such as a seat or a carrycot, to provide, respectively, a push chair or a perambulator, which can easily and quickly be converted from a configuration of use to a collapsed configuration suitable for easy transport.
There are known push chairs which can be converted from a first configuration of use to another configuration occupying less space than the first. Push chairs of this type normally comprise a pair of flat side frames between which there is disposed a seat, formed by means of panels of deformable material, suitably reinforced in predetermined regions; in the configuration of use the said two side frames are maintained, by suitable means, at a predetermined distance from one another in such a way as to allow the panels to define the seat, whilst in the transport configuration the two side frames are brought together thus deforming such panels which can be arranged, suitably folded, between the side frames themselves.
Push chairs of this type have numerous disadvantages. First of all, the seat with which they are provided has an insufficient rigidity to provide, from the anatomical point of view, a correct support for the body and to protect it from possible external forces; in fact, the deformable panels which define such seat cannot give rise to a structure having any rigidity or substantial strength. Moreover, the operations necessary to convert from the said first to the second configuration are complex and require a not insignificant time, it being necessary really to dismantle several parts of the structure of the push chair. Finally, because of the complication of this structure, blockage and jamming of the various parts can easily occur, which makes the use of the push chair extremely difficult.
There are also known perambulators in which the carry-cot portion is separable from the support structure and this can be suitably folded to convert it into a collapsed configuration. These, as well as having several of the first mentioned disadvantages, such as complexity of the operations which are required to bring the support structure into the said configuration and the possibility of blockage or jamming of the various parts of the structure itself, also have other disadvantages, such as the large bulk caused by the carry-cot assembly separated from the support structure, and by the folded structure itself.